AHL: Worcester Sharks turning season around

Thursday

Dec 6, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Bill Ballou AHL

The Sharks officially hit the quarter pole on Friday night in Portland, where they, as usual, lost.

That was the mathematical first quarter of the season, but not the emotional one. That came on Sunday afternoon as they headed home from Providence in first place in the Atlantic Division after dramatic back-to-back road victories.

It’s the first time Worcester has been in first place at this point in the season.

When the Sharks began the year 0-3-1 in their first four games and were outscored by 18-9, the season took on a look ominously like 2011-12. Since then, though, Worcester is 11-5-1, and that’s a pretty good sample size.

Given that nobody knows when or if the NHL lockout will end, or exactly what the AHL will look like if it does, this season’s Sharks seem very capable of contending for first in the division and consequently getting back in the playoffs.

How their different components rate so far:

Worcester’s bad start led to some bad early numbers for Al Stalock and Harri Sateri, and it took both a while to find their games. Stalock got his back fast, which was a little surprising given his long hiatus due to injury. Mostly, though, he has been terrific.

Sateri really struggled early, but was a major factor in the two victories last weekend.

As a tandem, the goalies’ raw numbers are average, but that’s a bit deceptive because of a few bad games. In 15 of 21 games, they have allowed three goals or fewer, which means the Sharks have had a chance to win all of those games and, in fact, have won 11 of them.

Considering how hard Worcester’s defensive corps has been hit by injuries, it has done pretty well. Three of the Sharks’ top seven scorers are defensemen — Sena Acolatse, Matt Irwin and Matt Tennyson — and Worcester has been able to find capable replacements when needed, such as Mike Banwell, Mikael Tam and Mike Brennan.

Matt Pelech is an unquantifiable force in terms of introducing a little terror into the other bench, but has to find a way to stay in the lineup to balance that out.

One mystery is how the Sharks, with snipers who are deadly in shootouts, can’t translate that into more goals in regulation time. Tim Kennedy has carried them offensively, and one player can do that for a while, but what if the lockout ends and he goes to San Jose, or what if he cools off in the AHL, which is probably inevitable?

Bracken Kearns is scoring ahead of his career averages and that has helped. Brodie Reid has been a factor since returning from injury as well.

John McCarthy probably will heat up — he often takes a while to get going — and if Jon Matsumoto and Brandon Mashinter find their historic levels, the Sharks will have enough supplemental scoring.

Power-play production and penalty killing both tend to be streaky, and the Sharks hit the quarter mark on bad streaks. This team is depending more on a good power play than a good penalty kill. Worcester has scored a power-play goal in 10 games and is 9-1 in those games. When it scores more than one, it is unbeaten at 5-0.

Overall, the Sharks have overachieved slightly. That is in large part because of the surplus they have accumulated in shootouts, but it seems that the addition of several veteran players has helped in the intangibles department.

Last year, Worcester won two games all season in which it trailed going into the third period. This year, the Sharks already have won four of those. Veteran skaters and clutch goaltending have been huge.

1. Who are the only two players to wear a Worcester uniform, Sharks or IceCats, who were brought up in New Brunswick?

2. What team holds the record for most points earned in a season without qualifying for the Calder Cup playoffs?

3. When was the last time a player from a New England team led the AHL in scoring?

Answers below.

Providence makes its first visit of the season to the DCU Center Saturday night, and it will be Matt Irwin Bobblehead Night. The first 3,000 fans will get the giveaway. The Bruins and Sharks have played three times this season, with Worcester winning all of them in Rhode Island.

However, this is reverse series — the visiting team has the advantage for some reason. The Sharks are 5-2-1 in their last eight games in Providence; the Bruins are 6-2 in their last eight games in Worcester.

Worth noting: A good crowd is expected, and the Sharks are 1-2 in front of their three biggest crowds of the season. They are 3-0 in front of their three smallest crowds.

Worcester has Pelech back from his suspension but Taylor Doherty, Nick Petrecki and Danny Groulx all began the week on the injured list — Doherty is probably the closest to returning — so the Sharks are still light in terms of defensive depth.

Jordan Eberle, the Oklahoma City right winger, is November’s Player of the Month. He was 10-11-21 and plus-13 in 13 games. His teammate, Justin Schultz, is Rookie of the Month. He is leading the league in scoring. Finally, Jeff Zatkoff — whom the Sharks are glad to see has gone to Wilkes-Barre — is the Goalie of the Month. He was 8-1-0 with a 1.21 goals-against average. … Three teams with the best winning percentages in their respective divisions — Oklahoma City in the South, Springfield in the Northeast, and Worcester in the Atlantic — are the three worst teams in average attendance. … Speaking of first place, the Sharks are the only first-place team in the six divisions to have given up more goals than they have scored. … The Sharks’ ECHL affiliate in San Francisco will play Stockton, a former affiliate, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose on Dec. 17. … Mathieu Darche has gotten a fair amount of face time on national TV as one of the players heavily involved in the NHL lockout negotiations. Darche is often seen walking with players’ association director Donald Fehr, but was also one of the guys in the players-only meeting with owners earlier in the week. … Indeed, you can’t win ’em all. Syracuse has finally lost outright on the road. In fact, since the Crunch thrashed the Sharks at the DCU Center, 6-1, they are 1-2 on the road with the lone victory coming in overtime. … For those who, like me, are close readers of box scores, it was a bit odd seeing that the Sharks game in Portland on Friday had an attendance of 3,578 and their game in Bridgeport on Saturday also drew 3,587. … Oddly enough, of the six games in 18 seasons in which Worcester teams have surrendered the most shots on goal (Sharks and IceCats), three have been played in Providence. … Abbotsford has seven shutouts, for or against, in its first 21 games. … Portland defenseman David Rundblad, whose goal against the Sharks in that 5-1 blowout at the DCU Center on Nov. 24 was his first of the season, scored in each of his next three games.

Jason Pitton is skating for the Fife Flyers in Scotland, a member of the English Elite League; Stephane Roy, one of the most popular players in IceCats history, is in Europe for a 12th straight season, this year with Ajoie of the Swiss B League; Patrick Davis of the 2010-11 Sharks is in the KHL with CSKA Moscow.

IceCats veteran defenseman Darren Rumble is an assistant coach with Seattle of the Western Hockey League; goalie Frank Doyle is in his third season playing for Fassa in Italy; Craig Darby is in Albany, where he went to high school, and works in real estate at CBRE-Albany.

1. Scott Pellerin of the IceCats and Cory Larose of the Sharks are the only two Worcester AHL players to have grown up in New Brunswick.

2. The Binghamton Senators went 41-30-9 for 91 points in 2008-09, but finished fifth in the East Division and didn’t make the playoffs.

3. Pavel Rosa of the Manchester Monarchs went 39-49-88 to win the league scoring title in 2003-04.

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